Team R.E. Powell

Team Newsletter - November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

TRAINING COMMITTEE UPDATE

By Tom Richwine

The training committee meets every other Tuesday at 8:30 am. I am the training committee chairman and the other members of the committee are Jeff Doss, Daniel Bosted, Brian Naylor, Lydia Armstrong and Lora Spenser.

Our committee goal for 2011 was to work with the safety committee to get a training tracker for each operation so we are able to see who has been trained on the items that have been deemed necessary. That tracker has been completed and has been updated by each manager.

We are now working on putting together the company's 2012 training schedule. Each member of the committee has been charged with coming up with training topics that they think are fitting for their operations. We also would like to get input from each of you to help us pick training topics that you would like to see. Some of the training we are exploring are business related and some are focused on personal growth. If you have any suggestions for the training committee, please send them to tom.richwine@repowell.net

Tom Richwine is the Human Resource/Compliance Manager for Powell Christensen. He has worked for Powell Christensen Inc twenty one years. He and his wife Donna, who also works for Powell Christensen, Inc , live in Pasco and keep very busy with their grandchildren.

Wooden-Ism's

by Gary Hedges

Back in February I made a life changing decision to leave 9 years of most everything I had known professionally in search of a new position that would afford me more rewarding times in life, specifically family. During this brief 10 week search for a new beginning to my professional career I had the opportunity to travel via plane for interviews to several different states. As you can imagine I had plenty of time to prepare, as well as keep my mind fresh by reading various books. One of the books I came across was a book written by John Wooden called "Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the court".

Mr. Wooden, if you are unfamiliar with the name, was a legendary college basketball coach and Hall of Famer for the UCLA Bruins. After he retired from coaching he became a teacher of life, sharing his philosophies about how he achieved his success as a young professional. He passed away at age 99 on June 4th, 2010.

As I traveled via air to interviews and sat in many airports I had an opportunity to pull out some excerpts from Mr. Wooden's book that I thought I would share with all of you. I keep these excerpts in my notepad on my phone at all times and periodically reference them, so I don't forget Mr. Wooden's simple, yet effective reminders. In some way or another I believe they are applicable to everyone and can help to remind us of the important things in life, not only at work, but also at home. Enjoy!

John Wooden's Nine Promises:
1.I promise to talk health, happiness, and prosperity.
2.I promise to make all my friends know there is something in them that is special and that I value.
3.I promise to think of only the best, work for only the best, and to expect the best in myself and others (MY FAVORITE!!).
4.I promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
5.I promise to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
6.I promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.
7.I promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and to give every person I meet a smile.
8.I promise to give so much time to improving myself that I have no time left to criticize others.
9.I promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on me.

John Wooden Maxim's:
1.If you do not have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?
2.Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.
3.Make sure the team members know they're working WITH you...not FOR you.
4."What" is right...is more important than "who" is right.
5.As long as you try your best, you are never a failure. That is, unless you blame others.
6.Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.
7.Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Character is what you really are; reputation is merely what you are perceived to be.
8.Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.
9.The time to make friends is before you need them.
10.MAKE EACH DAY YOUR MASTERPIECE!

John Wooden on "Unhappiness Today":
"The primary cause of unhappiness for most people is simply wanting too much: expecting too much materially, chasing the dollar, overemphasizing the material things. When they don't arrive, unhappiness does."

John Wooden on "Discipline and Criticism":
"Discipline's purpose is to help, to prevent, to improve, rather than to punish."

"Criticism is not meant to punish, but rather to correct something that is preventing better results"

"The only goal of both is to improve...I must keep that in mind and use TACT to the best of my ability."

John Wooden on "Self Control":
"Dwelling in the past prevents doing something in the present.

"Complaining, whining, and making excuses just keeps you out of the present.

"Self control keeps you in the present. Strive to maintain self control.

Gary started with RE Powell Distributing in 2011 as the Plant Manager in Yakima. He and his wife, Jessica live in Selah and are active in there children's school. They enjoy traveling, bowling and Pizza!

Company Happenings

Donnie Wolfe, an employee of General Transport, passed away in September. Donnie was a friend to many of us, so we were not surprised when several employees came forward and asked how they could help Donnie's wife and children. Thanks to many of you, our company was able to raise $4,000 for the Wolfe Family. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Wolfe's during this challenging time.

Near Miss Reporting

2010-10-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Our company has launched an initiative we have called "Zero Defects", which is aimed at decreasing the number of defects that occur within our organization. Among the top defects that we would like to decrease are several safety related incidents, such as vehicle accidents, injuries, spills, and fuel cross-drops.

In the past, companies have focused their attention on improving unsafe work conditions, and not necessarily focusing on eliminating unsafe work activities. In recent years, researchers have discovered that 90% of industrial accidents have been related to work activities versus only 10% that were related to the actual work conditions.

The key take away from this research is that as a company we need to analyze those work activities which are unsafe. To help us identify unsafe work activities before they cause a safety incident, we are introducing a new safety related initiative - Near Miss Reporting.

This safety initiative is based on the premise that the person who regularly performs a task is best suited to identify potential safety hazards. Think about a simple task like driving to work. I bet some of you were almost in an accident just driving to work today? These were near misses. Now think about some of the more complicated tasks that take place within our company. Tasks like driving a fuel truck, filling a propane bottle, or operating a forklift. With these tasks the probability of an incident occurring increases dramatically.

By now many of you have been introduced to our Near Miss Report. You know what it looks like and what information is contained in it. The question on your mind might be, "Why is it so important to report a near miss accident?" Nothing happened, no damage was done, and no one was hurt. Maybe you have concerns that if you turn in a Near Miss Report, you will open yourself up for a reprimand or even worse, termination.

Let me reassure you that the purpose of the Near Miss Report is not to reprimand or terminate anyone. In fact, if any team member has concerns about turning in a Near Miss Report to their manager, I would encourage them to turn the form in anonymously.

Why are we taking this so serious? Studies have shown that for every 600 near misses that take place within a company, there are at least 90 actual incidents involving equipment or property damage, 10 minor injuries involving lost work time, and sadly at least 1 major injury or death.

The information you report in the Near Miss Report will be analyzed by your manager and the company's Safety Committee. This analysis will help us identify unsafe activities and work conditions, so that potential accidents can be prevented.

Working together we can make our company safer for everyone.

Working together we can create a defect free environment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Stagnation

2010-10-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

R.E. Powell, General Transport, and Amerifuel have initiated a project called "Zero Defects". Our desired outcome from this project is to significantly decrease the number of errors/mistakes that we cause that negatively impact our customers. During the month of August we began tracking a variety of defects that are taking place within the company. As we started tracking the defects, we noticed that each week, the number of defects reported increased over the prior week. By the end of the month we were documenting a much higher level of defects as compared to the beginning of the month.

Were we really making more mistakes as time passed by? Was our performance actually decreasing instead of increasing?

To better understand this situation, I'd like to share the following experience. During a recent trip to Mount Rainier National Park, our family hiked from the lodge at Paradise to Myrtle Falls. It was a short hike, but with three young kids and a very pregnant wife, it was challenging nonetheless. As we reached the falls, our efforts were rewarded with a breathtaking sight. Glacier fed water sparkled in the sunlight as it tumbled over large boulders. Wildflowers bloomed in all directions, as majestic Mount Rainier towered above us. A few days after our visit to Mount Rainier I was standing on the bank of a small river in Eastern Washington. The current was very weak at this part of the river and the water's stagnation, had allowed the water to become murky, smelly, and full of unsightly growth. While I stared at the river, I contrasted what I saw with what I had seen just a few days earlier at Mount Rainier.

Stagnation can have a similar negative effect on our business. When significant performance gaps exist within a business, and team members avoid dealing with these gaps, the business will develop murky, smelly stuff. You know the stuff I'm talking about. It's the stuff nobody wants to talk about. It's the stuff we try to sweep under the rug so no one sees it. The funny thing is, even though we do our best to hide this stuff, everyone usually knows it's there.

In contrast, when our teams make a conscious decision to embrace performance gaps, they have taken the first step in combating stagnation. With our Zero Defects Project, we have taken this first step, and it shouldn't be a surprise that we are uncovering some murky, smelly stuff.

During August we recorded 39 defects. This means that our performance gaps negatively impacted at least 39 customers. Remember, this is 39 defects in just 31 days. What if this performance continued for a whole year? That would mean almost 500 customers could potentially be negatively impacted by our performance gaps. Kind of mind-blowing, huh?

The second step in combating stagnation is to focus on closing the performance gaps. This is the fun part! During this step, teams embrace the fact that gaps in performance are normal, and instead of hiding the problems, they begin making the necessary changes to close the gaps. This is when performance really starts to accelerate, and just like the water cascading down Myrtle Falls; it can be a breathtaking experience.

Are you seeing significant performance gaps in your department? What are your thoughts on how we can get real traction on closing these performance gaps?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Our Most Important Customer

2010-10-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

In a recent company meeting, a conversation developed around who is our company's most important customer. Several customer names were tossed out, and by the end of the discussion, the group had come to a consensus - The most important customer is the ONE you are currently serving. (I think these team members came up with a very profound answer to their question.)

A lot of companies talk about the importance of customer service, so I've often wondered why so few companies actually have great customer service. Is great customer service really that difficult?
In a perfect world, customer service would be easy -

• We would always know the right answer to every customer question.
• Every team member would show up to work with a great attitude, ready to happily serve the next customer.
• Every customer would be a pleasure to serve.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. Some days we allow personal issues to affect our attitude. Then there's that one customer that just seems to drive us crazy. In an imperfect world customer service can definitely be challenging.

Joseph Campbell, an American philosopher and professor once said "opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."

What if we looked at customer service challenges as opportunities to grow? What would happen if we were to look at each customer as our most important? Would we be more willing to give them the service they deserve?

When we provide great customer service regardless of the customer or situation, we demonstrate our professionalism and commitment to excellence. On a personal level we find deeper powers within ourselves. On a professional level, we elevate our company's level of customer service.

Its one thing to have good customer service, and its entirely another thing to have great customer service. Our goal should be to have great customer service.

So, the next time you find yourself in a challenging customer service situation, just remember - you are serving our most important customer; give them the customer service they deserve.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Our Culture

2010-10-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a job candidate ask me the following question: "what factors led to Powell-Christensen's strong record of growth and success." I responded by saying that it was our unique culture.

Realizing, that the candidate was probably looking for a more specific answer, I mentioned to him that certain values and behaviors have been espoused by the company's founders and owners, and over the years the company has tried to hire individuals who embody these values and behaviors. I further explained that as the company has grown, we have been vigilant in preserving and promoting our unique culture.

Let me now fast forward to an experience I had last week. I was chatting with one of our newest employees, and during that conversation the employee asked me some basic questions about the company, including "what makes our company special?" I asked the new employee if anyone had reviewed our company history and core values with him. He informed me that he had been told very little about the company. My mind instantly flashed back to the interview I'd had a few days earlier, in which I had touted our company's vigilance in preserving and promoting our culture. I was very disturbed by the apparent contradiction between the two experiences.

Our history is a collection of both our achievements and failures, it tells a story of where we have been, and more importantly it provides important clues as to where we want to go in the future.

Our core values tell people what we stand for. They do not change from time to time, situation to situation, or person to person, but rather they are the underpinnings of who we are.

Together, our history and core values are the soul of our company. They are OUR CULTURE.

Regardless of how large our company becomes, we can preserve our culture and promote what has always been special about our company. But we can't be complacent, we must be Vigilant.

The company needs your help. I would like each employee to do the following:

1. Go to www.repowell.net, click on the "Who We Are" tab located on the top of the homepage, and review our History, Core Values, Awards and Recognition, and Community Participation.

2. Respond back to me with things that we can do to preserve and promote our culture, history, and core values within our company.

I will gather up and compile your responses. I will then share the full list of ideas with everyone. I will also make a promise that as a company we will utilize some of your ideas to help us do a better job of promoting and preserving our culture.

Thanks,

Tony
tony@repowell.net

What Gets Measured Get Improved

2010-10-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

As part of our Customer Focused Strategy, we have set a goal to significantly decrease the number of mistakes and errors that we cause that negatively impact our customers. We call these mistakes and errors - Defects. We have set a goal to decrease our defects by 50% during the next 90 days.

There's an old adage that says "What gets measured gets improved". To help us in achieving our defect goal, we have established a system to measure the number of defects that occur within our company.

As part of this process, we are asking each department to "OWN" their defects. To achieve our goal, we need each department to willingly self-report any defects that take place within their department. Each department manager will then report these defects our weekly manager conference call.

Here's a rundown of the departments and the manager(s) who is responsible for reporting their results:

Grandview Admin - Susan Lopez & Todd Hurlburt
General Transport - Jeff Doss & Ron Covington
Grandview Plant - Todd Hurlburt
Yakima & Toppenish Plants - Rob Derrey
Pasco Plant - Jeff Bonnington
Walla Walla Plant - Don Olson
Dealer Business - Susan Lopez

Here's how we will be categorizing our defects:

Major Shipping Defects
- Spill Over 5 Gallons
- DOT Recordable Accident
- OSHA Recordable Injury
- Product Cross Dump
- Customer Run Out - Our Fault
- Damage to Customer's Property
- Product Delivered on Wrong Day
- Tank Overfill (95% Capacity)

Minor Shipping Defects
- Product Retain -Our Fault
- Wrong Product Delivered
- Delivered to Wrong Location
- Bill of Lading Error - Missing/Incomplete/Incorrect
- Minor Spill - Less than 5 gallons
- Minor Injury (Medical Assistance Required, but no time loss)

Major Administrative Defects
- Billing Wrong Customer Account
- Incorrectly Applying Customer Payment to Wrong Account
- EFT Wrong Customer

Minor Admin Defects
- Billing Incorrect Product
- Over/Under Charge Customer
- Customer Call Not Returned Within Reasonable Timeframe
- No Invoice Sent to Customer

We are all part of this process. As you see customer defects take place, please report them to your managers. We are confident that as we measure our performance, we are going to see our performance improve. We will keep everyone updated on our performance by reporting our progress in the weekly Team Update.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Mission: Zero Defects

2010-10-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Over the past three months our company has been engaged in crafting and implementing a customer focused strategy. As part of this process we identified six objective distinctions which define our customer strategy. These distinctions are: Pricing, Product Variety, Knowledgeable Employees, On-Time Delivery, Zero Defects, and Cost Management Solutions.

To help us get a clearer picture of how we are currently performing on each of these six distinctions, we gathered feedback from our employees and customers via a comment website. The feedback we gathered was critical in helping us identify areas of our business that should be improved.

The feedback we received from many of you and several of our customers, highlighted the fact that we make our fair share of mistakes. These mistakes have negative effects on our customers as well as our employees. Based on this feedback, the company's management has decided that the first objective distinction that we are going to work on improving is Zero Defects.

(Please note: In reality, it would be impossible for our entire company to operate completely error free, however we know that we can dramatically improve our performance in this area, and that is our goal.)

To help us get traction on our goal of achieving Zero Defects, we have put together the following plan:

Step 1: Tracking Defects - The company will develop a system for tracking defects. This system will track accidents, incidents, and mistakes from every department within the company. This will include our sales, dispatch, billing, credit, and delivery departments.

Step 2: Establish Benchmarks - During the month of August, we will track our performance in regards to defects. Based on this data we will determine how we are performing, and establish defect goals for the months of September and October.

Step 3: Communicate Progress - We will communicate our progress on this plan in our weekly Team Update newsletter.

Step 4: Reward and Recognize - We want to reward and recognize those team members and departments that help us in reaching our Zero Defect goals. (If you have any ideas on this, please share them with your manager or with me.)

Every department within the company will be involved with this project, and your active engagement in the process is critical.

How can you be engaged in this process? Here's a few thoughts:

• If you have ideas on what you and/or your department can do to decrease the number of defects/mistakes experienced by our customers, please share your ideas with your manager.

• Make sure that you know what defects your team is tracking, and stay updated on your department's performance.

• As mistakes/defects happen, analyze them. Find out why the defect took place, and be proactive in finding ways to minimize the possibility of that defect in the future.

Remember - It's one thing to be good at what you do, and it's an entirely different thing to be the best. Our Mission is to be the best distributor of fuel, lubricants and propane.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen

www.repowell.net

Our Customer Focus Strategy

2010-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Our Customer Focus Strategy

Recently, our management team worked together with a strategy consulting company called Peer Place to clearly define the key elements of our Customer Strategy. Peer Place called these elements our Objective Distinctions.

Based on the work we did with PeerPlace, we identified the following six Objective Distinctions:
• Pricing
• Zero Defects
• On-Time Delivery
• Knowledgeable Employees
• Product Variety
• Cost Management

Our management team believes that each of the above elements is critical to our long-term customer strategy. In an effort to find out how well we are currently performing on each of these Objective Distinctions, we utilized a customer and employee comment site to gather feedback. Here's a summary of what you and our customers told us.

Pricing
R.E. Powell and General Transport have done an excellent job of securing multiple suppliers and supply points. In addition, the company has built a strong distribution network. These capabilities have given R.E. Powell the ability to be very competitive with its prices. With this said, many of you feel that our prices are not always in line with our competitors. Sometimes we charge too much or too little when compared to the competition's pricing.

Zero Defects
According to many of our employees and customers, we make our fair share of mistakes. Many of you feel that we are doing about as good a job as most of our competitors, but you are not satisfied with being average. You want to be the best, so we definitely have room for improvement.

On-Time Delivery
Many of our employees were very passionate about this objective distinction. Over the past few years our team has put a lot of effort into making sure that we get the product to the customer on-time. I just looked at our On-Time % Charts for 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2008, our company's on-time % was below 90%. During the first half of 2010 we averaged above 97%. This is fantastic. This is a tribute to our wonderful team of drivers, dispatchers, plant managers, and front office personnel. Great Job Team!

Knowledgeable Employees
Many of you feel that we have very knowledgeable employees. What a surprise? I have to agree with you all, we do have a good, strong base of intelligent, knowledgeable employees. Some of you mentioned that you would like management to be proactive in providing you with additional training and resources that will enable you to better serve our customers. Management appreciates your desires to increase your level of customer service.

Product Variety
We carry a lot of products, but many of our customers and employees did not really know how large of a product variety we currently carry. Some of you think we carry more products then we should. Based on your feedback, we don't need to distribute more products, but focus on being better at distributing the products we are already offer. We also need to do a better job of training all our employees on the products we currently carry.

Cost Management
When we speak of Cost Management we mean the ability to consistently provide our customers with innovative, industry leading costs saving solutions. This is a newer concept for us, but based on the feedback we gathered, the marketplace is hungry for someone to provide these solutions. The feedback we gathered told us that many of our employees and customers see this as an area that we can truly differentiate ourselves from the competition.

So, what do you think? Do these six Objective Distinctions adequately describe the key elements of our customer strategy?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen

www.repowell.net

Starting the Transformation

2010-10-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our company has started on a journey to create an environment characterized by candid feedback, employee engagement, and value creation. As promised in last week's blog, here's a review of how we are progressing with this transformation.

Step 1: Develop a process for regularly measuring employee engagement.

In May, we asked each employee to complete what we called a "Well-Being Survey". Then, in June, we set up an employee comment website, and we asked each employee to log in to the site and vote/comment on a variety of topics. One of the purposes for the survey and employee comment site was to measure our company's level of employee engagement. Our participation rate on both the survey and website was approximately 40%.

Moving forward, we plan on using employee surveys, comment websites, and other tools to check-in with all of you and see how engaged you feel.

Step 2: Implement a process to solidify and communicate the "objective distinctions" of our customer strategy. Involve managers, employees and customers in the process of constructing this process.

Over the past two months, our company has participated in a strategy planning project with a consulting company called PeerPlace. The first step in this process was for our company's management team to meet with PeerPlace and define the distinct elements of our customer strategy. PeerPlace called these elements our "Objective Distinctions". (In my next blog, I will elaborate more on the Objective Distinctions of our customer srategy.)

Step two of this process was to compare how we stacked up on these Objective Distinctions versus one of our major competitors. To visually represent this comparison, PeerPlace helped us create a visual display of our strategy and the competitor's strategy. We called this visual display our Strategy Map.

Step three was to launch a website where we could capture both employee and customer feedback on our strategy. On this website employees and customers were given an opportunity to vote/comment on how they felt we were performing on each of our "objective distinctions".

Step four was for the management team to gather and analyze the feedback from the website. Based on this feedback the management team made adjustments to the Strategy Map, and created a Future Strategy Map, which represented how we wanted our company to look in the future.

At our next management team meeting, the team plans on identifying and prioritizing the strategic initiatives that will allow the company to achieve its Future Strategy Map.

Step 3: Develop a system to objectively measure progress on each of the strategic initiatives. Post this for everyone to see the monthly progress.

Once the company's management team completes Step 2, the team plans on determining how it will measure and report the company's progress on each of the strategic initiatives. We want everyone on the R.E. Powell and General Transport teams to be able to track our progress, so let us know if you have any ideas on how we should report our progress to all of you.

Step 4: Implement structured meetings to provide management, team members, and customers with a forum to provide and receive candid feedback.

To ensure that we continue to receive valuable feedback, the company has institutionalized certain meetings in an effort to develop feedback loops between managers, employees, and customers. These meetings include:

Weekly 1:1 Meeting
Each manager is expected to meet at least once a week with each team member that reports directly to them. This meeting is used to do a quick check-in. It provides the manager with an opportunity to check the status of certain projects, initiatives, or tasks that the employee has been asked to accomplish. This meeting also provides the employee with an opportunity to gain clarification on any open issues, and provides a forum for the employee to share valuable feedback with his or her manager.

Weekly Department Meeting
Each department/team in the company should be holding weekly department meetings. These meetings should be no longer than 15-30 minutes. The first half of the meeting is reserved for team members to report on key metrics or projects that they are responsible for. The second half of the meeting is reserved for team members to discuss challenges, problems, or opportunities that they feel the team should be aware of.

Monthly Department Meeting
The monthly meeting should last 1 - 2 hours and should provide the team with an opportunity to review the past month's performance, and most importantly to do a review of the team's strategic initiatives. This meeting can also provide some time for some training and problem solving.

Quarterly Customer Review
In 2009, the sales team implemented the use of quarterly customer reviews. The information gathered during the customer quarterly reviews is compiled by the Territory Manager and sent to the Director of Sales as well as the respective Plant Manager/Department Manager. The feedback gathered from these meetings is shared with the rest of the company's management team during the weekly and monthly meetings.

Step 5: Twice annually, complete anonymous, web-based, 360 reviews for each manager.

The company is looking into an economical way to accomplish this step.

Our company has started on an exciting journey. Our end goal is to create a more dynamic company which is characterized by candid feedback, employee engagement, and value creation. Those team members that fully engage themselves in this journey will undoubtedly get much more out of the experience. So buckle your seat belt, and enjoy the ride. Or you could also say "To Infinity and Beyond".

PS: The first person to email me back with the character and movie that I got "To Inifinity and Beyond" from, will receive a Chevron Gift Card.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen

www.repowell.net

Employee Engagement III - Creating Something Better

2010-10-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we made a mistake when we were delivering fuel to one of our customers. I called the customer to apologize for the mistake, but I got his voicemail. I really wanted to apologize to the customer in person so I tried calling him a second time. Once again, I got his voicemail, so I left another message. I also sent a couple of emails to the customer.

The weeks went by, and I never heard back from the customer. I became increasingly concerned that the customer was really upset with us. In my mind I had visions of this customer leaving us and switching to the competition. I actually became afraid to call the customer because I had convinced myself that the customer didn't want to talk to me.

I finally got my courage up and tried calling the customer again. This time he answered his phone. He apologized for not returning my calls. He mentioned that he had been extremely busy, but was really glad that I had called. Over the next several minutes we had a great conversation. He mentioned that his business was expanding rapidly, and he wanted to know if we could help him with handling more of his business. I couldn't believe it. All the stories I had made up in my mind regarding this customer weren't true. Not only was the customer not upset with us, he wanted to give us more business. It was amazing how a little feedback from the customer changed my entire outlook.

Jim Moats, the founder of PeerPlace has said:

"when and where the quantity or quality of feedback isn't adequate the mind makes up a story that allows it to cope with what we don't know. Stories are powerful motivators because we need drama. We find drama through our role in the stories we live in and stories primarily take place within the relationships found in our most intimate groups, the ones we build identity through, like our business team.

Accurate feedback tells me if I'm part of a strong group or not, if I'm earning my place in the group or not, if my influence is valued or not. Without feedback we make up stories. With regular feedback we connect through reality.

Feedback fills a critical need: it offers the opportunity to accelerate learning and adjustment. We are all addicted to feedback - without it we create drama through stories."

Dynamic companies are typically characterized by rich feedback environments, which leads to increased levels of collaboration amongst employees and customers. This in turn leads to experimentation, adjustment and action. Within this environment, employees find their voices, and their active engagement ignites the company's growth.

How does a company create an environment characterized by candid feedback, employee engagement, and value creation? Let me suggest five steps that can assist a company in this transformation:

1. Develop a process for regularly measuring employee engagement.

2. Implement a process to solidify and communicate the "objective distinctions" of the company's customer strategy. Involve managers, employees and customers in the process of constructing this.

3. Develop a system to objectively measure progress on each of these. Post this for everyone to see the monthly progress.

4. Implement structured meetings to provide management, team members, and customers with a forum to provide and receive candid feedback.

5. Twice annually, complete anonymous, web based, 360 reviews for each manager.

You may not know this, but our company has already started executing on the above steps. In my next blog, we will review our progress.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen

Employee Engagement II

2010-10-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

I ended my last blog by asking the following two questions "Are you actively engaged?" and "How much is employee disengagement costing our company?" Several of you actually responded back to my question, and I want you to know that I really appreciated your feedback. From the responses I received, I could tell that our company has many actively engaged employees, but that we still have room for improvement.

I recently watched an episode of "Undercover Boss." In this show, chief executives of large companies anonymously slip into the rank and file of their companies. While working alongside their employees, these executives see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organization and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad.

The runaway success of Undercover Boss leads me to believe that many Americans feel they can relate to the employees in this show. Many of this show's viewers are probably disengaged employees, and the truth is every company has some level of disengagement.

So, what does disengagement within a company look like? Let me know if the following description sounds familiar:

Managers and owners think employees just don't care. Employees think their manager and the owners don't care about them. Distrust develops and apathy develops amongst many team members. Feedback is lacking, and if it is present, it is typically negative. The company doesn't create value for its employees and this lack of disengagement leads to a lack of overall performance, and low value creation within the organization.

So, why does disengagement take place within a company?

Disengaged employees aren't born that way. They are usually created by ineffective, badly trained management. Many managers themselves do not know what it takes to succeed in a particular role nor do they have an incentive to care. More often than not, the focus and emphasis of managers and the the human resource department is on "putting out fires." Some managers feel as though the bulk of their workday is spent dealing with employees who are negative, completely disengaged and should be terminated because they shouldn't have been hired in the first place.

Do you want to work in an environment that is full of disengagement, or do you want something better? Can we as a team create an environment with a high level of employee engagement? Can we create an environment where feedback is received and appreciated, and where a high percentage of employees are focused on creating value for the company and the customer?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Email me at Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Employee Engagement

2010-06-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Employee Engagement is the level of commitment an employee has towards the organization. The primary behaviors of engaged employees are: speaking positively about the organization to coworkers, potential employees and customers, having a strong desire to be a member of the organization, and exerting extra effort to contribute to the organization’s success.

Many studies have shown a direct correlation between a company’s financial performance and its level of employee engagement. As the percentage of actively engaged employees increases, so does the company’s performance.

So how are American businesses performing in regards to employee engagement?

The Gallup Management Journal's last semi-annual Employee Engagement Index reports that 54% of employees are not engaged, and 17% are actively disengaged at work and only 29% are actively engaged.

According to Gallup, less than 1 in 3 employees in America considers themselves to be actively engaged in their job. Are you surprised by these numbers?

So what are the major cause of employee disengagement? According to the Gallup Organization the most frequently mentioned issues that employees say cause disengagement are:

• Poor management-uncaring and unprofessional managers;
overworking staff; no respect, not listening, putting people in
wrong jobs; speed over quality; poor manager selection
processes.

• Lack of career growth and advancement opportunities: no
perceivable career paths; not posting job openings or filling
from within; favoritism or unfair promotions.

• Poor communication: problems communicating top-down and
between departments; after mergers; between facilities.

• Lack of recognition.

• Lack of training: nonexistent or superficial training; nothing
for new hires, managers, or to move up.

• Lack of tools and resources: insufficient, malfunctioning,
outdated, equipment/supplies; overwork without relief.

• Lack of teamwork-poor coworker cooperation/commitment;
lack of interdepartmental coordination.

The impact of employee disengagement is a bottom line issue. Gallup statistics show that unhappy workers cost the American business economy up to $350 billion annually in lost productivity!

Are you actively engaged? How much is employee disengagement costing our company?

I’d love know your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Setting the Pace

2010-06-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's one thing to be good at what you do, it's an entirely another thing to be the best. To be the best means that you are the example and standard that an industry looks to. A business typically reaches this level of performance through basing its success on what it accomplishes on behalf of its customers.

R.E. Powell Distributing is driven to deliver unmatched value to our customers, and this drive is propelling us to the forefront of our industry. Our innovative customer focused solutions are changing the way businesses buy their petroleum products. This commitment to innovation and customer focus can be seen with the recent launch of our Market-Based Inventory Management and Price Risk Management Programs.

Market-Based Inventory Program
Working in partnership with our customers, R.E. Powell leverages industry expertise and state of the art technologies to deliver fuel to the customer at the optimal time. R.E. Powell's Logistics Team, monitors tank levels, prices, product allocations, and overall market conditions. With this information in hand the Logistics Team then makes purchasing and sourcing decisions on behalf of the customer. This kind of accurate and rapid monitoring of key data points can translate into savings of four cents or more per gallon for our customers.

Price Risk Management Program
If fuel costs are a significant portion of a business' operating costs, their profitability can be significantly impacted by large fluctuations in fuel pricess. Armed with market-leading information and years of industry experience, our Price Risk Management Team works closely with our customers to help them develop a fuel purchasing and hedging strategy that lets them sleep at night.

Setting the Pace
We are setting the pace in our industry by focusing on the needs of our customers, and through developing innovative cost saving solutions. It's one thing to be good at what you do, it's entirely another thing to be the best. I want to thank all our team members for their efforts in making us the best.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen
www.repowell.net

Value Creation

2010-06-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

An effective business starts with a vision of what it wants to become and ends with value creation. Competing in a competitive marketplace is difficult, and to survive and prosper long term, a company must develop and use its capabilities to create, real, sustainable, superior value for its customers and society as a whole. It requires a company to anticipate and profitably satisfy customer needs.

Let’s take a look at an example. How many of you own an Apple IPod? I would venture to guess that approximately 1 in 10 of you own an IPOD. (I recently saw a statistic that 11% of Americans own an IPod). Our family currently has three IPods, and we love them. How did Apple come up with this cool gadget? Did someone go up to Apple and tell them that they wanted Apple to develop a sleek, stylish, device that could store digital music and video files, and they would like the device to be able to sync up to a website that allows users to easily download millions of songs? Probably not. So how did they come up with the concept?

Apple understood their customer’s wants and needs. This understanding came from rich customer relationships that had been developed through years of product development, testing, and feedback. I would assume that Apple spends a large amount of money surveying customers and potential customers to get a clearer picture of their true wants and needs. Apple probably also has a clear understanding of its own internal capabilities. With this in mind, they anticipated what their customers would want, and developed a product that profitably satisfies these needs and wants. That’s value creation.

Do we have examples of anticipating and profitably satisfying customer needs? We do. Recently the sales team closed a large sale. Several months earlier, this account had been identified as a large sales opportunity. Many team members were involved in this particular sales process, and their efforts were rewarded with the acquisition of this account’s business. During their last monthly meeting, the sales team had an opportunity to analyze their performance on this sale. The key question that was raised was, “What led to the successful outcome of this particular sales process?” Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.

Takeaway 1: We need to understand the customer needs.
This prospect had similar needs to many other large, regional consumers of fuel, lubricants, and propane. These key needs can be summarized as follows:

• The prospect was focused on cost saving solutions.

• The prospect wanted to consolidate suppliers as much as possible.

• The prospect expected its vendors to package their proposals in a concise and
professional way.

• The prospect was open to new ideas, and was hungry for easy to understand market- based information.

Takeaway 2: We need to understand our strengths.
Customers are smart, and they can see through half-baked promises. Fortunately, for R.E. Powell, many of our strengths aligned with this prospects needs. These strengths include: A team of experienced professionals that could audit their operations and help them identify cost saving solutions.

• A supplier that can supply products to a large geographical area, so as to limit the total number of suppliers that they need to deal with.

• A supplier that can provide easy to understand, market-based information that can be used to make informed buying decisions.

• A supplier that can package their findings and solutions into a concise and professional looking proposal.

Takeaway 3: Prepare before the game.
By developing strong relationships with many of our large, regional customers, we knew that these type of customers have specific needs that need to be addressed. This knowledge had led us to adapt our strengths to meet these needs. Over the last couple of years we had made the following adjustments:

• Added new sales professionals to our team that are experts in their specific field.

• Expanded our distribution areas.

• Improved our ability to gather and disseminate market-based information.

• Improved our proposal writing and presentation skills.

We had anticipated and profitably satisfied the customer’s needs. That’s Value Creation.

What are your thoughts?

Tony

Consolidating Gains

2010-04-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

During one of our recent monthly plant meetings, a team member asked if anyone was interested in holding a “Biggest Loser” competition. The competition would be based on the hit TV show, “Biggest Loser”. On the show, contestants compete to see who can lose the most weight. The contestants’ performance is gauged by a weekly weigh in. To motivate the participants there are weekly rewards given to the contestants who have lost the most weight, and there is a large cash prize given to the participant who loses the most weight by the end of the entire competition.

From the reaction of many of the people in our monthly plant meeting, I would have to say that there was quite a bit of excitement around holding a Biggest Loser competition. Personally, I think the idea of holding a “Biggest Loser” competition is a great idea. Furthermore, the idea of holding this competition made me wonder; “how does a competition like this, motivate individuals in their pursuit of achieving a long-term goal, such as losing weight?” Are there certain elements of the “Biggest Loser” competition, which help motivate individuals as they work towards their weight loss goal?

Closer analysis reveals that the “Biggest Loser” competition has the following key elements:

1. A goal that is meaningful to the participants.
2. The longer-term goal is broken up into smaller, weekly goals.
3. Each participant’s performance is easy to gauge and track.
4. The rewards for reaching the short and long-term goals are clearly
communicated.

The process of achieving challenging, long-term goals is greatly assisted through the establishment of shorter term goals, which are easy to gauge and track. As we achieve these short-term goals, we consolidate our gains, and this gives us the motivation to continue moving toward our longer term goal.

We can apply the lessons learned from the “Biggest Loser” competition to our jobs. To get started, ask yourself the following questions?

1. Does my department have clear, meaningful goals?
2. Are our long-term goals broken up into shorter term goals?
3. Are the goals communicated to all team members?
4. Do I know what the rewards are for achieving these goals?
5. How engaged am I in helping our team achieve its goals?

If you don’t like your answers to the above questions, talk to your manager. Together we can achieve more.

Get engaged, consolidate the gains, achieve the goals.

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Goals

2010-03-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Many years ago Wayne Gretzky was asked why he was such a great scorer. He responded by saying “when I’m on the ice I can barely see the goalie.” When he was asked what he meant by his response, he said, “if you ask a fifty-goal scorer what the goalie looks like he’ll say the goalie is just a blur. A five-goal scorer can tell you the brand name of the pads of every goalie in the league. I’m seeing the goal, he’s seeing the goalie.”

Oftentimes we get so focused on the goalies in our life that, we lose track of the goal. We lose track of what we truly desire, and in doing so we let our goals and dreams slip away. So, what steps can we take to aid us in achieving our goals? Let me suggest the following:

Lock Onto Goals That Excite You
Over the years I have always enjoyed running, and in the past my runs typically consisted of 3 to 4 mile jogs. A little over a year ago, I decided that I wanted to run a 26.2 mile marathon. For me, the idea of running a marathon was an exciting challenge. Once I locked onto the idea of running a marathon, I realized that it was going to take more than just thinking about it, to make it happen.

Break Your Goals Into Smaller Chunks
To help me in reaching my goal I decided to break my goal of running a marathon into smaller chunks. I knew that it would take several months for my body to be properly prepared to run over 26 miles. To keep myself motivated during this lengthy process, I signed up for a couple of shorter races. By committing to run these shorter races, I was able to keep myself motivated during my training.

Clearly Establish the Necessary Steps to Achieve Your Goals
As part of my training, I established specific priorities that I needed to achieve to reach my shorter-term goals. These priorities included buying new running shoes, establishing a training schedule, and signing up for races. The planning process was fun and exciting. As I thought about achieving my main goal, I became more and more excited. Unfortunately, this excitement soon waned as I started the arduous training.

Get Some Cheerleaders
As I trained, there were long runs in the wind and rain. There were days when my body gave up and I just couldn’t finish my planned training runs. There were times when I wanted to give up on my goal. I even started to question my motivation for reaching my goal. Fortunately, I had told some of my closest friends and family that I was going to run a marathon. They encouraged and supported me during those tough days. They told me that they wanted to come to the marathon and watch me run across the finish line. I didn’t want to let them down, so I kept going.

Don’t Give Up
With any major goal, there will undoubtedly be setbacks. During my training, my biggest setbacks were physical injuries. These injuries made me doubt that I could actually achieve my goal. However, instead of giving up, I adjusted. My progress was slowed, but in the end I persevered and achieved my goal.

On April 4, 2009 I completed the Yakima River Canyon Marathon. It is difficult to describe my emotions when I crossed the finish line. It was a mix of joy, relief, and pride. It made all the pain and effort worth it. Reflecting back on this achievement I better understand why tennis great, Arthur Ashe, said that “success is a journey and not a destination.”

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Dreams

2010-03-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

When Louis B. Mayer the director of “Gone With The Wind” pitched his idea for an epic Civil War movie to MGM Executive Irving Thalberg, he was told “forget it, Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel.” In 1899, Charles H. Duell, commissioner for the U.S. Office of Patents sent a letter to President McKinley in which he urged the President to abolish his office. According to Mr. Duell, “everything that can be invented has been invented.” Mr. Thalberg and Mr. Duell both failed to see the vast opportunities that lay ahead of them.

In life we admire those individuals who dream of a better future and fight against the odds to make those dreams come true. Do you ever remember seeing a memorial or monument being erected for a critic or doubter? No, that’s because we love the dreamers. We love men and women like Walt Disney, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, and the Wright Brothers.

We all have dreams. Maybe your dream is to pay off your mortgage, go back to school, or retire and enjoy your grandchildren. The good news is, dreams do come true, especially in America. Even from its earliest beginnings, America was recognized as a unique land where people could achieve their dreams. In 1832, Alexis de Toqueville wrote his famous book Democracy in America, in which he stated that in America “there is no man who cannot reasonably expect to attain the amenities of life, for each knows that, given love of work, his future is certain.”

Did you know that by working for this company, you are playing an important role in making a dream come true? This dream began over three decades ago when a young couple dreamed of building a company where employees and customers were treated like family. They dreamed of creating a company that would provide growth opportunities for themselves, their children, and their employees. This dream has continued on over the years, and each employee that has worked at R.E. Powell, General Transport, AmeriStar, Mid Valley, and AmeriFuel, has played an important role in making this dream come true.

Wonderful things happen when we dare to dream. The first step is to find the courage to follow after those dreams.

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Core Values

2010-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

Throughout a company’s lifetime certain values and behaviors develop within the company. When a company is small, these values and behaviors are greatly affected through team members close proximity to the company’s owner/leader. When a company grows it may become increasingly difficult to maintain those behaviors and values that made the company successful in the past. In an effort to reinforce their unique culture, many companies have established a written list of Core Values.

With this in mind, our company’s management team recently worked together to establish a list of Core Values that adequately defines those unique values and behaviors that have lead to our company’s past success. Through the efforts of the management team in conjunction with feedback from many of our fellow team members, a list of Core Values was created.

This list of Core Values reflects what is truly important to us as an organization. These are not values that change from time to time, situation to situation, or person to person, but rather they are the underpinning of our company culture. By maintaining these Core Values, regardless of how large our company becomes, we can preserve what has always been special about our company. These core values are the soul of our company.

Safety and Compliance - Strive for 100% compliance from 100% of our employees. We want to be known for excellence in environmental, safety, and all other areas of compliance.

Accountability - Do what we are say we are going to do. This includes conducting our affairs with integrity at all times.

Value Creation - Create real, long-term value by improving people’s lives and prosperity. Know your stakeholders, and profitably anticipate and satisfy their needs.

Entrepreneurship - Demonstrate the sense of urgency, accountability, initiative, and risk-taking mentality that is necessary to promote the company’s future success.

Customer Focus - Enjoy when the customer succeeds and do not allow any gaps in the Customer Service Chain.

Growth - Pursue personal and professional growth. Meet your full potential, and find fulfillment at work.

Adaptability - Embrace and drive change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo, and drive creative destruction.

Efficiency - Do more with less. Strive to eliminate waste, and increase productivity.

I want to thank all those who helped out in establishing this list of Core Values. As a team, we now need to find ways to ensure that these values continue to be part of our culture.

I’d love to know you thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony
www.repowell.net

Building Strong Team Member Relationships, Part II

2010-03-01T10:10:00.001-08:00

Last week we took a look at manager and team member relationships. This week we will take a closer look at the relationships between team members. History has shown that teams with strong connections amongst team members have a greater chance of accomplishing their goals. It is hard to find a high performing team that consists of team members that do not like and respect each other. So how do we as a company promote the development of strong team member relationships? Here are a couple of thoughts.

Share a mission or purpose. It could be said that business is a team sport. When we work with our teams to reach our goals, personal connection is generated through the objectives we strive to achieve together. Common purpose is experienced in teams by achieving milestones, goals, vision or intentions and in some unusual companies, all of these. We earn and sustain connection by accomplishing greater purposes than we could otherwise achieve on our own. As team members we should encourage our fellow team members to work together to create a clear team mission or purpose.

Encourage candor. Candor is defined as the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech. I’ve observed in some cases, team members who are afraid to speak openly to other members on their team. What makes candor so challenging? Ultimately it boils down to the fact that we don’t think people can take it or worse yet we don’t think we can take their reaction to our truthfulness, so we avoid the discomfort and give up the opportunity. Fostering candor has ability to strengthen our teams. Let’s not hide behind our fear, let’s speak up and be authentic with our teammates.

Have fun together. The other day I attended a birthday party for the spouse of one of our team members. Several other fellow employees attended the party as well. As a team we enjoyed a fun evening filled with great food and great company. I personally had the chance to get to know some of our team members and their spouses better. My personal connection with these individuals grew. Our teams should be encouraged to have fun together in both work settings and non-work settings. Sometimes teams rely on the same people to take the lead when it comes to planning fun activities. These individuals should be appreciated for their efforts, and those of us that are not are so proactive in planning fun events, should look for opportunities to step up our participation.

I’d like to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Building Strong Team Member Relationships, Part I

2010-02-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

At a recent team meeting, I had the opportunity to sit and watch as the members of this particular team interacted with each other. As I watched this small group, I had a strong impression that each team member had a strong connection with each of the other team members and with their manager. Throughout the course of the meeting, the team members were collaborating, and feeding off of each other. You could tell that they had mutual respect for each other, and that they relied on each other for support and strength.

After watching this team for a couple of hours, a question came to my mind, “How much of this particular team’s success was a direct result of their strong interpersonal relationships? I got the sense that the team members had a shared common purpose, and they were actively engaged in achieving their shared team goals and milestones. Furthermore, I sensed that the high level of connection amongst the team members was allowing them to accomplish greater achievements than they could otherwise achieve on their own.

While I watched this team, I wondered what our company would look like if each of the team’s within our company had strong interpersonal relationships and a shared common purpose. I also wondered how we could sponsor this type of team building throughout the entire company.

Since that meeting I’ve had an opportunity to discuss the importance of building strong team member relationships within our teams with a few of our managers. These discussions revealed that there are really two key relationships within a team; (1) the manager to team member relationships and (2) the team member to team member relationships.

Let’s take a closer look at the manager to team member relationships.

Managers who create and maintain environments that allow for authentic feedback are usually rewarded with increasing loyalty, innovation, and achievement from their team members. Managers who create an environment where team members feel connected and needed, typically have less turnover and achieve higher levels of team performance.

How do managers create this type of environment? Let me suggest a few ideas.

1. Prove that you care for each team member. Prove it through your words and actions. Make sure that team members’ voices are being heard. Give each team member a forum to bring up their ideas and concerns. Weekly one-to-one meetings between the manager and team members are a great way to create a safe place for team members to share their thoughts and concerns.

2. Truly listen to team members. As we listen we will discover our team member’s dreams, hopes, aspirations, and achievements. Some of us fall into the trap of trying to multitask, when we should be intently listening. When an opportunity to talk arises, focus your attention on the team member.

3. Show empathy and appreciation. To really connect with team members a manager must sponsor an environment where team members feel like they can be open and honest with the manager. Some of us may feel that if we truly open up and share our important purposes and concerns with our manager, we will be criticized, lectured, or rejected. These fears hold back growth for both the team member and the manager. When a team member opens up to a manager, the manager should show true appreciation for the team member’s comments. If the team member truly feels understood and appreciated, the connection between the team member and manager will continue to grow and flourish.

4. Bring candor and authenticity to the relationship. No one benefits when a manager or team member holds back their true feelings. Managers should strive to set clear expectations for their team members, and give clear feedback regarding the team member’s performance. On the flip side, team members owe it to their manager to be open and direct with their feelings. Relationships grow when both parties believe that there is authenticity in the relationship.

By focusing on these simple four areas, team managers can create an environment where authentic feedback is the norm, and the manager is rewarded with ever-increasing loyalty, innovation, and achievement from his or her team members.

In my next blog we will take a closer look at building the team member to team member relationships.

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Every Team Member a Salesperson

2010-02-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Not too long ago, one of our territory managers asked if I would accompany him on a sales call. I agreed to go, even though I wasn’t too excited about it. I had a stack of work at the office that I wanted to get through, and I felt as though I was really too busy to go out and visit this potential customer. Reluctantly, I agreed to go.

Once we were at the potential customer’s place of business, my attitude began to change. This particular business owner was very hungry for information. He wanted to know what his options were for managing his fuel costs. He wanted to know if we could help him determine when to fill his fuel tanks. He wanted to know if he could lock in fuel and propane prices for the future. He wanted to know whether the lubricants he was using were the best choice. As the conversation continued, I became genuinely interested in his business operations. I forgot all about my stacks of work at the office. I realized that I was involved in the most important task that I could be involved in. I was learning about a customer’s needs, and I was sharing ways that our company could satisfy those needs. I was actively engaged in the sales process, and I was truly enjoying the experience.

Many of us probably think that it’s the job of our salespeople to sell. It is definitely true that our salespeople are expected to be out in the field sharing our message with potential customers; however, to reach our full potential as an organization, we need all our team members to be actively engaged in the sales process.

There are probably some of us who would never dream of being a salesperson. It scares us to death to walk up to someone we don’t know and start talking to them. We don’t think that we know enough about our products to talk to people about them. We might be afraid of what people will think about us. The fact is, regardless of our position within the company, we are salespeople. The employee in the front office who answers the phone is selling the company, each time they answer an incoming call. The employee working in the accounting department who handles past due accounts is selling the company each time they make a call on a late payment. In one way or another, each of us has a role in the sales process. This process is our company’s life blood, and if it dies, we die.

We have said that our mission as a company is to “create value by consistently delivering on our three guiding principles of Right Product, Right Place, Right Price. I would like to add a fourth Principle – Right Information. Team members who believe in the company and its mission have a compelling desire to share information about the company. They are concerned with the success of our customers, and they are constantly looking for ways to anticipate and satisfy the customer’s needs. These employees realize that we have valuable information which if used properly by the customer, will help the customer save money. They enjoy sharing this information because they know that it will improve the life of the customer.

Here are some examples:

When you ask a customer if they would be interested in receiving our Daily Fuel Market Update, you are creating value for the customer, and you are also engaged in the sales process.

When you suggest to a customer that they wait a few days to fill their fuel tank because prices are in a downward trend, you are creating value for the customer, and you are also engaged in the sales process.

When you mention to a customer that we have some additional products or services that they might be interested in, you are creating value for the customer, and you are also engaged in the sales process.

When you mention to your dentist that you love working for R.E. Powell because they let you come to work dressed up as a gorilla in a bikini, you are probably not selling. You’re probably just high from the laughing gas the dentist gave you twenty minutes earlier.

How powerful a force would it be, if all our team members were actively engaged in the sales process?

How powerful would it be if we all believed in our company and had a desire to share the company’s message with those we come into contact with? To share our desire for anticipating and satisfying the customer’s needs. To share the fact that we are creating value through the valuable information and resources that we provide to our customers.

If we each look for opportunities to share our message then we can truly say that we have reached our goal of Every Team Member a Salesperson.

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net
http://teamrepowell.blogspot.com/

Value Creation Part II

2010-02-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

In my last blog I wrote about the importance of value creation for the long-term success of an organization. We defined value creation as “the ability to anticipate and profitably satisfy customer needs.” At the end of the blog, I raised the question “is there a standardized process for value creation?” The question that I probably should have asked is “what is our company’s standardized process for value creation?” The short answer, would be, that we don’t have a standardized process for value creation.

Although we have never defined our value creation process, we do have examples of value creation taking place throughout the company. How powerful would it be if we could standardize this process, and promote the use of this process throughout the company?

A few weeks ago, Jeff Doss, our Dispatch Manager came to me and mentioned that he had noticed that a few of our fuel customers had quit buying fuel from us. He asked if it would be OK for him to reach out to these customers and see if he could find out why they quit purchasing their fuel from us. Later that same day Jeff came back and mentioned to me that he had already contacted a few of the customers, and found out why they switched. In most cases we had lost the business due to simple concerns that could easily be solved. Jeff asked if he could make the necessary adjustments for the customers, and once again I told him he could.

Over the next couple of weeks, Jeff continued to call customers, and the same pattern emerged. The customers had some concerns, and Jeff typically found that his experience working as a dispatcher, had given him the capability to solve most of these problems. In many cases, the customer’s concern was not the price of the fuel, as had been previously assumed by many others within the company. There were concerns about price, but there were also concerns about split load fees, missing delivery windows, and credit terms. Jeff found out that since he and his team were in direct control of the customer’s fuel loads, they were in a unique position to address these concerns with the customer. Jeff had created value for these customers.

I asked Jeff if he could train and empower the rest of his team to reach out to customers and solve their concerns just as he had done over the past couple of weeks. If he could, the additional value that Jeff had created, would be duplicated with each additional team member on his team.

As Jeff and I talked, we realized that the key question that we needed to answer was “what is the best process for value creation?” The conversation that ensued from this simple question helped uncover a process that I believe can help us all accelerate the pace of value creation within our teams. Here’s the key steps that Jeff and I came up with:

1. Training - A team member’s ability to anticipate and satisfy a customer’s needs will be greatly enhanced if a team member is proficient at her job. This ability will also be enhanced if the employee knows the company’s core values, and has a good understanding of the company’s various key functions and activities. The best way to accelerate this process is to ensure that the employee undergoes a thorough training process when they are first hired, and participates in on the job training.

2. Manager Relationship – The Manager/Team member relationship is a key to this process. If a team member believes that her manager is interested in her success, she will be more likely to share ideas with her manager. This sharing of ideas will accelerate the level of creativity and innovation within the team.

3. One on One Meeting – Past experience has shown us that the 1:1 meeting is the most critical meeting that takes place within the company. During this meeting Managers have the opportunity to meet one on one with their team members. Managers are encouraged to use this meeting to reinforce commitments made by the team member, and to discuss ways that the team member can create additional value for the team, the company, and most importantly the customer.

4. Weekly Department Meetings – Managers are encouraged to hold a weekly team meeting with their team. This meeting provides an excellent opportunity for team members to bring up their ideas for value creation. All team members should feel comfortable to bring up their ideas at this meeting. In addition, the Team Manager can bring up ideas that have been brought up to her during 1:1 meetings. This meeting provides an excellent forum for the team to process the ideas that have been brought up, and decide which ideas should be implemented.

5. Rewards/Recognition – Managers are encouraged to find fun ways to reward and recognize those team members that actively participate in the value creation process. This will help support the ongoing success of the value creation process.

I’d love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Value Creation

2010-01-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

The prospect was focused on cost saving solution.
The prospect wanted to consolidate suppliers as much as possible.
The prospect expected its vendors to package their proposals in a concise and professional way.
The prospect was open to new ideas, and was hungry for easy to understand market- based information.

Takeaway 2: We need to understand our strengths.

Customers are smart, and they can see through half-baked promises. Fortunately, for R.E. Powell, many of our strengths aligned with this prospects needs. These strengths include: A team of experienced professionals that could audit their operations and help them identify cost saving solutions.

A supplier that can supply products to a large geographical area, so as to limit the total number of suppliers that they need to deal with.
A supplier that can provide easy to understand, market-based information that can be used to make informed buying decisions.
A supplier that can package their findings and solutions into a concise and professional looking proposal.

Takeaway 3: Prepare before the game.

By developing strong relationships with many of our large, regional customers, we knew that these type of customers have specific needs that need to be addressed. This knowledge had led us to adapt our strengths to meet these needs. Over the last couple of years we had made the following adjustments:

Added new sales professionals to our team that are experts in their specific field.
Expanded our distribution areas.
Improved our ability to gather and disseminate market-based information.
Improved our proposal writing and presentation skills.

We had anticipated and profitably satisfied the customer’s needs. That’s Value Creation.

So is there a standardized process for value creation? That’s a great question, and I will address that in my next blog.

I'd love to know your thoughts? tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Challenges

2010-01-28T10:22:00.003-08:00

I was recently reading an article about a tour guide named Chen Yu, who works at Taiwan’s Yushan National Park. When Chen asks his guests what they would like to see, they almost all say that they want go to the top of Yushan (Jade Mountain), which is the highest peak in Northeast Asia.

Chen loves the beauty and majesty of Yushan, but over the years he’s learned that the spectacular views from the top of Yushan are appreciated most by those that have experienced the deep gorges and valleys that lie far below the summit of Yushan. According to Chen, “to appreciate the height, you must experience the bottom. You can’t appreciate the end without understanding the process.”

What a great analogy for life. When we persevere through the challenging times, we grow. We cannot rise up out of the world, without undergoing uncomfortable, sometimes painful experiences.

In a recent conversation with one of our mangers, we discussed the struggles that his team was experiencing. This manager’s team, like many of the teams within our company, had experienced a very challenging year in 2009. Goals were not met, tough personnel changes had taken place, and the prospect of more challenges loomed on the horizon. During our conversation I brought up the example of American Idol. Most of you are probably familiar with this popular singing show, which has attracted millions of fans. Contestants who try out for American Idol are required to regularly sing on live TV, and then they are subjected to tough criticism and feedback from the show’s panel of three judges. One of the three judges, Simon Cowell, has become infamous for his candid, direct, and oftentimes blistering critiques of the show’s contestants.

If you watch the full season of American Idol, you will see a very interesting thing take place. As the contestants move through the process of performing and being judged, some of the singers go through an amazing transformation. These particular singers use the feedback and criticism they receive from the judges, and grow from it. They come back to their next performance improved, and with even more determination to succeed. They rise to challenge. The most interesting thing is that many times the singers who become the real stars of the show, did not start the season as the best singers. However, their passion and drive pushed them through the challenging times, and through this process they significantly raise their singing abilities. Through this process they become true singing stars.

How do we challenge ourselves at work?
Do we have the courage to give candid feedback to our team members and teammates?
What do we do with the feedback that we receive from our manager or teammates?
Do we grow from the criticism and feedback that we receive?

As we start off the new year, I challenge each of us to be more candid and direct. I also challenge each of us to learn and grow from the feedback we receive from our teammates.

I'd love to know your thoughts? tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Candor

2010-01-28T10:22:00.001-08:00

Recently I attended a meeting with one of our teams. This particular team had recently experienced a series of significant failures. The team was frustrated, and you could sense that many members of the team had feelings that they wanted to get off their chest. During the two hour meeting, the failures were analyzed, and team members took accountability for their roles in these failures. The team members spoke candidly about their performance, and the performance of their fellow team members.

Candor is defined as the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech. It sounds so simple, but in fact most teams and organizations rarely bring candor to the table. Fortunately, this team had learned that no one benefits when truthfulness and integrity are covered up. No one grows when weaknesses and failures are tolerated. Many teams pronounce that “they want their team members to provide honest feedback”, or that “this is a safe place to express concerns”, but these words rarely bring candor.

A company is simply a collection of people who create customer value together. Employees, from the janitor to the CEO, need to trust each other to grow and fulfill the role they have been invited to play. Having complete faith in each other is vital and candor is an important element in achieving this.

Let's analyze our performance, and the performance of our teams. Team managers should be creating an environment where all team members feel safe to be candid about their performance, the performance of their team members, and the performance of their manager.

Once a team or organization becomes candid, communication accelerates and performance dramatically improves. This always happens.

I've love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Imagine If

2010-01-28T10:21:00.001-08:00

Last week I had the opportunity to attend some seminars that were put on by the University of Washington’s Business and Economic Development Center. At one of the seminars we had the opportunity to listen to a panel that included a world renowned economist, a local Seattle advertising executive, and a marketing communications expert. These panelists brought up several great points. When it was the economists time to speak he showed us on a graph how this economic recession was following a similar path to previous recessions. Albeit, this recession was much deeper and longer than any other recession since the Great Depression. He proved to the audience that all economic signals are indicating that this recession bottomed a few months ago, and based on the past history of other recessions, the country will emerge out of this recession in a few short months. This was some great news, but many in the audience commented that there were still going to be very challenging times in the months ahead.

After the economist spoke, the questions from the audience seemed to turn to what could businesses do to prepare themselves for the future. The advertising executive made a comment that really caught my attention. He said that we’ve entered a “New Normal”, where the consumer’s psyche has changed. The consumer, whether it is an individual, household, or business, is seeking after Value. In his opinion, consumers are spending more time than ever evaluating their purchase decisions. They do not want to waste their money. Those companies that can find out what consumers Value, and actually create value for their customers, will be the true long-term winners. He reiterated that you can’t assume you know what the consumer values. You must engage your customers and find out what is truly important to them. When you know what the customer values, you can then “Frame the Discussion” with your customers and prospective customers. When we engage our customers and sales prospects, we need to turn the discussion to “Imagine if…..”.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

Example 1
We have a sales prospect that says “There’s no real difference between any of the area’s fuel suppliers. Fuel is fuel, and all you distributors sell fuel for about the same price”. Our skilled salesperson, realizes that she has to re-frame the discussion, so she says, “Imagine if your supplier could provide accurate short-term predictions on fuel prices, and could help you purchase fuel at the right time. Is this something that your current supplier does for you?” The conversation has now turned from price, to value. If the prospect wants to be able to make informed decisions on when to fill up his tanks, he will value the fact that R.E. Powell has an on-staff fuel market analyst.

Example 2
A customer says that we need to lower our price on our lubricants because the competition is beating us by 10 cents per gallon. Our well trained Territory Manager asks the customer what other value added services does that competitor provide. The Territory Manager then follows that up by saying “Imagine if your supplier does not perform an in-depth quarterly review like R.E. Powell does, how will you stay on top of the constant changes that take place with your lubricants? In the near future you could be using products that no longer meet your unique needs”

If we as a company look around, we will find that we are surrounded by numerous “Imagine Ifs”. They include

Imagine if your fuel supplier could assist you in putting together a fuel purchasing strategy and budget for 2010!

Imagine if your fuel supplier put on an annual Dealer Conference and Trade Show that included industry leading training!

Imagine if your lubricant supplier performed regular facility audits to ensure that you are using the best products for your unique needs!

Imagine if your territory manager met with you once a quarter to assist you in finding ways to optimize your purchases, and ultimately your business!

Imagine if your delivery driver showed up to your place of business well groomed, in a nice uniform, and in a nice piece of equipment!

Imagine if you could always count on your distributor to follow through on what they said they were going to do!

If you can think of any “Imagine Ifs” that we should be sharing with our customers and sales prospects, please let me know.

I'd love to know your thoughts. tony@repowell.net

Tony

www.repowell.net

Strategic Positioning

2010-01-28T10:20:00.001-08:00

In my email last week I mentioned that we were going to hold a series of informational seminars throughout the state. In fact, we had nine seminars which were held in Pasco, Yakima, Moses Lake, Prosser, Alderdale, Spokane, Hermiston, and Walla Walla. These seminars were attended by both existing customers and sales prospects. I want to give the C & I Sales Team a big pat on the back. They did an excellent job in coordinating these meetings. Tina Hampton was our presenter at each of these meetings, and I want to thank Tina for the effort she put forth to make sure that these meetings were a big success.

As a company we are working hard to position ourselves as the experts in Fuel, Lubricant, and Propane Distribution. Our mission is to create value for our customers by delivering the right product, at the right place, and right price, every time. Last week’s meetings were an opportunity to show our customers and our competitor’s customers that we are serious about our Mission. We know that we are best distributor of Fuel, Lubricants, and Propane in the Pacific Northwest, and now it’s time to let everyone else know.

Tony

www.repowell.net

2010-01-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

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